


Valentine's Gossip

by Aithilin



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 07:39:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17824643
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aithilin/pseuds/Aithilin
Summary: Noctis was used to fielding the rumours and gossip that came with Valentine's Day. He just wished people would get it right.





	Valentine's Gossip

The rumour mill of Insomnia was nothing new. It was a daily grind for life around the Citadel— managing appearance and interactions, being aware of cameras and talk and who could say what and when. Annually, the gossip flared back up like an old infection around the holidays, feeding off the easy pictures, the simple confusion, the statements and smiles and the small gestures that were not meant to be shared with the whole kingdom. It spread with the festive decorations and the promise of sweethearts and gifts and secret admirers. 

It had been easier when Noctis was younger. 

He hadn’t been aware of the gossip when he was a child. 

The pictures and the papers, he had been made to understand those early. How he appeared, what he did, how he reflected his father and the throne to the rest of the world. But the actual gossip spreading through hallways and streets and people was not something that he had thought about until more recently. Until he worried that the misconceptions— the wrong words, the out of context images, the moments stolen here and there to be shared across Lucis— might actually affect him on a more personal level. Might actually affect someone that he cared for. 

“Nyx, I’m sorry.”

When he was young, Noctis knew how easily the rumours could start. Now, he could understand how malicious they could be. Or how oblivious people were, how invasive they could be. How one misspoken word could be taken and twisted and spread across the world. How not everyone he wanted to keep close was ready for the scrutiny. 

Valentine’s was the worst. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for, little star.”

They had gone to dinner, and no one had noticed. Nyx had arrived on his doorstep, all smiles and gifts— a bouquet of Sylleblossoms and roses, the sweetness of the arrangement had seeped into the air of his apartment with a proper Tenebraean tenacity befitting Noctis’ favourite flower. Rumours had started. Nyx had taken over the driving for their date— the Star purring beneath his hands as if promising how the night would end with Noctis. Beneath the shining lights of the city— with Nyx smiling at his side and making his promises, his jokes, teasing conversation across an intimate table at a restaurant known for its discreet dealings— Noctis had let himself forget that he was under the constant public eye. 

He had forgotten the lessons of his youth. How the “Prince’s Sweetheart” story would surface year after year— focused on the candy he ate on the way home from school, or the smile shared with a classmate, the affectionate encouragement from Gladio, and the doting treats from Ignis. He had let himself forget that the holiday was not for him. The idea of a Valentine, of the corresponding White Day later, was not something he was meant to join in on. 

Not unless he wanted a speculation about his alleged love life spread through every rumour mill and gossip rag the next day. 

He wouldn’t have minded if they had actually focused in on Nyx. If they had picked up that he was smiling at the Glaive, that he had gone out to dinner with him. That Nyx had taken him home and spent the night. If they had let the gossip actually skirt the edges of reality. 

At least then there would have been some truth to it. 

“At least they picked the princess this time,” Nyx smiled over lunch, the paper already abandoned to the kitchen counter, out of arms’ reach. The first picture was of the bouquet— of Noctis’ smile over the Sylleblossoms— beneath the speculation of sweethearts in the allied kingdom. “It would have been awkward if they put it was all from her brother.”

“Again.”

“Again.”

There had been talk about clandestine meetings and dates. Of long secret letters and calls, and the trappings of royalty. The papers were riffled with speculation of how a busy Oracle like Lunafreya could have snuck her way into the Lucian capital, or how a long distance affair would be handled by the royal houses. The year before the flowers were from Ravus, before that a lover in Altissia, or a paramour among the Lucian nobility. 

No one looked twice at Nyx. 

Except for Noctis. 

“We should go out.”

“Another date, little star?”

“A very public one.”

Nyx’s smirk was infectious. The doting, indulgent grin that they shared across their plates. “What did you have in mind.”

“I don’t know. Dinner? A movie? A—”

“A trip to Galahd?”

“A trip to Galahd.”


End file.
